Meg Whitman says HP has to “offer a smartphone,” but offers no specifics

It’s no secret that HP purchasing Palm was a disaster. The computer hardware company got in way over its head with trying to turnaround a struggling phone maker. It seemed like HP came with one bad idea after another during a time where it had changed CEOs like the weather. A lack of direction caused the company a tremendous breakdown in the mobile and tablet market with its Palm webOS investment failing. This breakdown had many folks thinking the PC maker was done with mobile all together.

Well, to quite the speculation of the company bailing on the mobile market, new boss Meg Whitman said in an interview with Fox Business, that HP “ultimately has to offer a smartphone.” I know, not exactly the most confident answer. And as usual, Whitman was tight-lipped about HP’s mobile plans going forward. The only thing we do know about webOS is the dead mobile operating system is now an open project (in beta) for developers who may still be interested in building something (which is a number we seriously doubt is large).

Instead of getting its ducks in order with its own mobile OS, HP is making a run toward Microsoft’s Windows 8 platform prepping production of a tablet. Palm and webOS fanboys are still holding out hope that HP will either resurrect the platform or sell it.

It’s seems like Meg Whitman and company don’t have a clue to what they plan on doing in mobile. This is the reason why she’s so mum about the subject, because she probably doesn’t know what the next move will be.